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28 July 2020 Bupa Australia & New Zealand
Office of the Chief Executive Officer 33 Exhibition Street Melbourne VIC 3000 T +61 3 9937 4335 W bupa.com.au
Dear Mr Manthorpe,
Re Draft Report – Reviewing our Recommendations: Did they do what they said they would do?
Thank you for your letter and the opportunity to review your draft report. We found it to be an accurate reflection of the situation and therefore have no suggested amendments.
I appreciate the recognition provided in your letter of our commitment to provide enduring systemic improvement. While of course we would have preferred that this issue never occurred, nonetheless, we have fully embraced the learnings and, despite the complexity of health insurance, we are committed to being clearer in our communications with customers.
Please reach out if you require any further information.
Yours sincerely,
Hisham El-Ansary Chief Executive Officer
Bupa Australia and New Zealand
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Department of Home Affairs
Mr Michael Manthorpe PSM Commonwealth Ombudsman
Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman GPO Box 442
CANBERRA ACT 2601
Dear Mr Manthorpe
Thank you for your letter to the Secretary dated 6 July 2020, providing your draft report: Reviewing our Recommendations: Did they do what they said they would?
The Department of Home Affairs (the Department) values your observation of the considerable commitment by the Department to achieving enduring systemic improvements and welcomes the opportunity to respond to the parts of the draft report relating to the Department.
Please find the Department’s response at Appendix A. The Department has made further progress with implementing the majority of partially implemented recommendations since the Preliminary View stage of this report and remains committed to implementing those recommendations in full.
Should you wish to discuss any aspects of the Department’s response, please contact
Yours sincerely
Ben Wright
First Assistant Secretary
Integrity, Security and Assurance 6 August 2020
6 Chan Street Belconnen ACT 2617
PO Box 25 Belconnen ACT 2616 • Telephone: 02 6264 1111 • Fax: 02 6225 6970 • www.homeaffairs.gov.au
Department of Home Affairs’ response
The Department of Home Affairs (the Department) welcomes the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s Report:
Reviewing our Recommendations: Did they do what they said they would?
For the Department, the Ombudsman followed up the implementation of recommendations made in the following reports:
• Delays in processing applications for Australian Citizenship by conferral
• Investigation into the circumstances of the detention of Mr G
• Preventing the immigration detention of Australian citizens: Investigation into the Department of Home Affairs' implementation of the recommendations of the Thom Review
• Investigation into delays in processing inbound Containerised Sea Cargo.
Across the four reports the Ombudsman made 32 recommendations, including one joint recommendation to the Department and the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources. Of the 31 recommendations directed solely to the Department, 27 were accepted in full and four in part. Of the 27 recommendations accepted in full, 21 recommendations have been fully implemented, and five partially implemented, demonstrating considerable commitment by the Department to achieving enduring systemic improvement.
The Department has made further progress with implementing the majority of partially implemented recommendations since the Preliminary View stage of this report and remains committed to implementing those recommendations in full.
Delays in processing applications for Australian Citizenship by conferral
The Delays in processing applications for Australian Citizenship by conferral report made four
recommendations aimed at improving the quality of information available to delegates in the Australian Citizenship Instructions in order to achieve greater certainty and timeliness in complex identity and character assessments.
The Department accepted the four recommendations, fully implemented three, and partially implemented one (recommendation two).
The Department is committed to full implementation of recommendation two which will be achieved with the finalisation of Procedural Instruction: Guide to making intelligence informed visa and citizenship decisions.
Investigation into the circumstances of the detention of Mr G
The Investigation into the circumstances of the detention of Mr G report made four recommendations aimed at improving the Department’s processes.
The Department accepted the four recommendations, noting that the implementation of recommendations one, two and three would depend on the outcome of litigation relating to other individuals who raised similar issues.
The Department agrees with the Ombudsman that recommendations one and four are fully implemented, and recommendation two is partially implemented. The Department is committed to full implementation of recommendation two which will be achieved with the finalisation of Procedural Instruction: Establishing and Maintaining Reasonable Suspicion and accompanying training materials.
The Department disagrees that recommendation three is only partially implemented. The Department completed a formal legal review into the lawfulness of Mr G’s detention, and while the Department acknowledges the circumstances of Mr G’s detention, the Department does not consider it appropriate to offer Mr G redress at this time. The Department considers this recommendation fully implemented.
Preventing the immigration detention of Australian citizens
The Preventing the immigration detention of Australian citizens report made 15 recommendations to the Department offering guidance on ways to ensure the recommendations of the Independent review for the Department of Immigration and Border Protection into the circumstances of the detention of two Australian citizens were implemented effectively.
The Department accepted 14 of the Ombudsman’s recommendations in full, and one in part. The Ombudsman assessed that two recommendations accepted in full are partially implemented
(recommendations five and six), with all other recommendations accepted by the Department implemented in full.
The Department agrees with the Ombudsman’s assessment, except in relation to recommendation five.
Since the Preliminary View stage of this report, wording to explicitly caution against relying solely on information in departmental systems has been incorporated in the ‘Located Person Interview’ Standard Operating Procedure. The Department also provided evidence to the Ombudsman’s office of a review of the Located Person Interview. The Department considers this recommendation fully implemented.
The Department remains committed to full implementation of recommendation six, which will be achieved with the finalisation of Procedural Instruction: Managing Non-Citizens in Criminal Detention Criminal Detention.
Investigation into delays in processing inbound Containerised Sea Cargo
The Investigation into delays in processing inbound Containerised Sea Cargo report made eight
recommendations to the Department, and one joint recommendation to the Department and the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, aimed at reducing delays at Cargo and Container Examination
Facilities.
The Department accepted the eight recommendations directed solely to the Department, five in full and three in part.
Of the five recommendations accepted in full, the Ombudsman assessed one recommendation as fully implemented (recommendation five), three as partially implemented (recommendations two, six and eight), and one as not implemented (recommendation one).
The Department agrees with the Ombudsman’s assessment, except in relation to recommendation six, and provided further evidence to the Ombudsman regarding the support available to officers in providing advice to complainants about available compensation schemes. The Department considers recommendation six fully implemented.
The Department is committed to full implementation of recommendations two and eight, which will be achieved through Integrated Cargo System improvements, and provision of advice to industry regarding improvements that have been made to the functionality and user-friendliness of the Department’s website.
Funding to allow for the possible implementation of recommendation one is subject to Australian Government approval.
Of the three recommendations accepted in part (recommendations three, four and seven), the Department considers recommendation three partially implemented, with full implementation to be achieved with delivery of Australian Border Force’s Alternative Intervention Approach. The Department also considers
recommendation seven partially implemented, with full implementation to be achieved via further improvement to the Department’s methodology to assess asbestos risk to reduce repeat targeting of importers with history of compliance.
The Department is not able to implement recommendation four. Recommention four was accepted in part, with advice that the Australian Border Force did not have the data available in core systems to report against the entire end-to-end process for cargo clearance. To date, it has not been feasible for the Department to make the investment required to undertake the necessary IT changes to implement this recommendation.
Recommendation nine was a joint recommendation to the Department and the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources. The Department considers this recommendation partially implemented as both Departments continue to work together and increase collaboration regarding container inspections.
Water and the Environment
ANDREW METCALFE AO SECRETARY
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-,
~ July 2020
Mr Michael Manthorpe PSM Commonwealth Ombudsman GPO Box 442
Canberra ACT 2601 Dear Mr Mant~ pe
Thank you for your letter of 6 July 2020 providing the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (the department) the opportunity to review the draft report Reviewing our
Recommendations: Did they do what they said they would? .
I hav~ asked my department to continue their work towards implementing the
recommendations made from your May 2018 Investigation into delays in processing inbound Containerised Sea Cargo report For recommendation 9, this will involve continuing strategic discussions and collaboration with the Department of Home Affairs, noting that differing legislation administers our respective inspection activities. My department will be seeking to discuss opportunities for stronger collaboration at upcoming meetings involving senior officials from both departments.
For recommendation 10, my department will continue to review the Cost Recovery Impact Statement to ensure the approach for allocating expenses across the department's cost recovery arrangements are consistent and fees are revised accordingly.
Thank you again for the opportunity to respond to this report.
Yours sincerely
~ ' }v~ - ~ ,
_.,'Andrew Metcalfe AO
T +61 2 6272 3933 18 Marcus Clarke Street GPO Box 858 awe.gov.au
I F +61 2 6272 5161 1 Canberra City ACT 2601
I
Canberra ACT 2601 I ABN 34 190 894 983
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Delivered by the
National Disability Insurance Agency
GPO Box 700 Canberra ACT 2601 1800 800 110 ndis.gov.au
Mr Michael Manthorpe PSM Commonwealth Ombudsman
Dear Mr Manthorpe
Thank you for the opportunity to consider and respond to the draft Commonwealth Ombudsman report – Reviewing our Recommendations: Did they do what they say they would? The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) appreciates your recognition of the commitment we have made to achieve systemic improvement in relation to the Commonwealth Ombudsman’s report on the Administration of Reviews under the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013.
The NDIA agrees with the facts and has not identified any omissions in the draft report. The NDIA has fully considered the 20 recommendations made in the original report, and notes 16 of the recommendations are considered to be implemented.
The NDIA accepts the assessment that the remaining four recommendations are partially implemented.
Thank you for your letter and update to the NDIA. We are focussed on getting the NDIS right for all people with disability and improving participant outcomes and experience. Please contact me at any time to discuss these important matters.
Yours sincerely
Martin Hoffman Chief Executive Officer
National Disability Insurance Agency 27 July 2020